Posts tagged growth

After playing 3 tough tournaments over the past 5 weekends – with 4 back-to-back tourneys looming ahead on the schedule – my son got sick. Nothing serious, mind you, but just the kind of exhaustion-inspired viral junk that makes you feel like garbage. It came on slowly at first but then hit like gangbusters the day before we were supposed to leave for the ITF event in South Carolina. He begged me to call the doctor for an antibiotic in hopes that he could feel good enough by the next day to More >

In the past week, I have learned of two families dealing with devastating issues involving their teenage sons: one a tennis family, the other a football family. In both cases, the issue surfaced seemingly from nowhere to turn the families upside down and inside out. The road to recovery will be long for both of them. It will involve anger, frustration, perseverance, and, above all, belief. My heart is breaking for both of them.

My son is at an interesting place in terms of his tennis development. As I’ve mentioned, he’s now playing up in the 18s even though he could still play another year in the 16s. But, because of his July birthday, and because of his goal to play at Kalamazoo (which is the first week of August) next summer, he had to start working on his 18s ranking a year early. That means he is often 2 years younger than his opponent, 2 years behind developmentally-speaking, 2 years behind growth-wise, and 2 More >